How to Set Up MTConnect on a Haas Next Gen Control

MTConnect is an open data standard that Haas already built into the Next Gen Control. It publishes what the machine is doing right now, run state, spindle load, feedrate, alarms, part count, as plain data on your network. Spall reads that stream and turns it into availability, downtime with reasons, and OEE. Nothing gets written back to the control. This guide walks the whole setup on the machine itself.

Before you start You need a Haas mill or lathe with the Next Gen Control (NGC), an Ethernet drop (or the wireless option) at the machine, and an IP address from whoever runs your network. Software version 100.20.000.1200 or newer reports the full data set, including alarms and macro variables. Older versions still report run state and part count, just not alarms.

1. Check the software version

On the control, open the Settings tab and look at the software version. If it reads 100.20.000.1200 or higher, you get everything MTConnect can give. If it is older, the setup below still works, you just won’t see alarm text in Spall until the control is updated. Write the number down and move on.

2. Put the machine on the network

This is the only step that actually touches the control. Go to Settings > Network > Wired Connection. Ask your IT or network person for a fixed IP address first, a machine that keeps changing address is a machine Spall keeps losing.

1. Set Wired Network Enabled to On.
2. Set Obtain Address Automatically to Off so the machine keeps a fixed address. (You can leave it On if IT reserves the address on the DHCP server instead.)
3. Enter the IP Address, Subnet Mask, Default Gateway, and DNS Server your network person gives you.
4. Press F4 to apply. Confirm Status reads Up.

Prefer WiFi? Use the Wireless Connection tab instead and pick your network. Wired is steadier for a machine that never moves.

3. Confirm the MTConnect agent is alive

Here is the good news: on the NGC, the MTConnect agent runs on its own. Once the machine is on the network it is already publishing on port 8082. You don’t flip a switch for it, you just prove it’s there.

From any PC on the same network, open a web browser and go to the machine’s address on port 8082:

# device definition (what the machine can report)
http://172.21.16.31:8082/probe

# live values right now
http://172.21.16.31:8082/current

If you get XML back, you are done on the machine. If the page won’t load, the machine either isn’t on the network yet (recheck Step 2) or a firewall is blocking the port (next step).

4. Open the port on your firewall

MTConnect talks over TCP port 8082. If your PC couldn’t reach the XML above, ask IT to allow that port between the machine and the Spall gateway. Machines usually sit on a separate shop network, so this is a one-line firewall rule, not a rebuild.

A legacy channel you don’t need for Spall Some shops also turn on Setting 143 (Machine Data Collect), an older Haas channel for lower-level items like active tool number and on-board timers. Spall’s MTConnect connector doesn’t use it, standard MTConnect on port 8082 is the complete path for everything in this guide. Leave Setting 143 off unless something else in your shop already depends on it.

5. Point Spall at the machine

In Spall, add the machine, choose MTConnect as the source, and enter the machine’s address and port:

172.21.16.31:8082

Assign it to the Spall gateway on that network and save. Within a few seconds you should see run state, spindle, and part count start populating. Run a cycle and watch the state flip to ACTIVE and the part count tick up. That’s the whole job.

What Spall does with this data

Availability. Spall splits every hour into running, idle, and down automatically from the run state, no clipboards, no operator guesswork. You finally see true availability instead of a hopeful number.

Downtime and reasons. Each stop is captured the instant it happens. Operators tag the reason on the floor, and Spall ranks the reasons into a Pareto so you fix the biggest loss first instead of the loudest one.

Production. The part count from MTConnect drives target-vs-actual by shift and job. Pair it with the part counts guide to count multi-part cycles correctly.

Quality and OEE. Availability, performance, and quality roll into one OEE view, with each loss ranked in dollars so the number points at an action instead of a score.

One thing worth repeating Spall reads. It never writes. The gateway pulls MTConnect data on your network and sends it outbound over encrypted MQTT. There’s no inbound port opened on your firewall for machine data, no VPN, and no changes to your part programs or PLC. If it can’t reach the machine, the worst case is a gap in the chart. The spindle keeps running.

Quick recap

• Check the software version
• Set a static IP under Network
• Verify :8082/current in a browser
• Open TCP 8082
• Add the machine in Spall

That’s every Haas NGC on one screen in Spall. Repeat it per machine, or hand the addresses to us and we’ll bring them on together.